All To Reveal a Secret We Can't Hide
by WriterorWhatever
Summary: Asexual and Biromantic!Rory coming out to her mom. Set approximately in Season 3, so mentioned Rory/Jess, but no actual Rory/Jess scenes or anything.


_**Author's Note:**_ _ **The title is from the song How to Dream by Sam Philips, which is the end credits theme for Gilmore Girls. Also, this was written for the first prompt for the Fandom Ace Fest on tumblr, which was coming out. Anyway, enjoy.**_

Rory was nervous, not just night-before-a-big-test kind of nervous, but full-on, babbling incoherently kind of nervous. Tonight she had planned on coming out to her mom; she had ordered take out and bought a bunch of post dinner junk food and pulled out their well loved Casablanca tape, which would either make for a nice night of mother-daughter bonding if it went well or a way to diffuse some tension if it didn't. As she sat on the couch and waited for her mom to get home from the inn, she didn't really know why she was so freaked. Sure, her mom viewed sex as an inevitable part of existence, she remembered the time she and Dean had accidentally fallen asleep at Miss. Patty's after the formal during her sophomore year of high school and her mother, and grandmother's, first assumption had been that she and Dean had had sex, and, sure, her mom hadn't ever expressed her opinion on anything not straight, there were the occasional "I should become a lesbian" jokes, but nothing of actual substance.

Before she could sink anymore into a panic, Lorelai had burst through the front door, "Alright, kid, grab your bag, we're getting food." She heard the whirlwind that was Lorelai Gilmore stop in the kitchen, where the take out was sitting in it's white little containers surrounded by store bought sweet and sour sauce that was just gross enough to be good and red vines and oreos. "Hey, you're nice," the whirlwind was back, full force, with take out boxes in hand, and flopping down on the couch where Rory was sitting, still and silent and not at all whirlwind-ish, which was unusual. This did not go unnoticed by her mother, who eyed her as she opened the sesame chicken, but she didn't say anything-yet.

Maybe tonight was too soon, but Rory had to plow forward before she lost her nerve once again.

"Mom-"

"Rory-" They spoke at the same time, two near identical voices, both with concern, and the normalcy of the situation made Rory laugh and feel just a little less off-center. "You first, babe," Her mom had laughed a little too, and seemed a little less worried.

"I, uh, well, it's like this. You remember the other night when we were talking about you going out of town and you were worried about me and Jess doing, uh, _you know_ and I said I was too busy to think about it? Well, that wasn't quite true." Her babbling ceased for a moment as she eyed her mom, who looked like she wanted to say something.

"So, you are thinking about it, then?" She didn't sound angry about it, but, Rory knew that, while her mom wore her emotions on her sleeve almost always, she could be calm when she felt the situation warranted it.

"Not exactly," Rory took a deep breath and continued, putting her chinese on the coffee table because she felt a little sick with nerves, "I have thought about it, but I don't want to. Not don't want to think about it, don't want to do it, at all. I mean I'm attracted to Jess and I think I might even love him, not that I've told him or anything, because you know how he is with feelings and such, but there it is. And this doesn't have much to do with the thinking of it or the doing it, I think, I think it's me or something-" Lorelai grabbed her hands, which were moving rapidly as she tried to get out what she needed to say.

"Hon, you're rambling. Now, do you not want to do it at all or just with Jess. Help me understand what you're trying to say." Her mom was taking this so well, but it wasn't everything she needed to get out, but it was giving her hope for how everything would turn out.

"At all. I mean I like dating and being in a relationship, but I don't want to have sex. With anyone. It's just not something I want and I can't think of anyone, boy or girl, that I could think of that I would want to have sex with." Lorelai squeezed the hands she was still holding, which made her feel better, but it also made her wonder if her mom caught the "or girl" bit and was fine with it or just thought it was to make a point about her asexuality.

"Okay. So, you don't want to have sex."

"I don't want to have sex. And I won't be having sex. No sex will be had."

"Okay, so I guess all those trojan man jokes were for nothing then, huh, kid." Rory couldn't help herself, at that, she laughed, all nervousness melting away as they fell back into their usual pattern.

"I guess so," Rory said once the laughter had subsided, "but there's a little more."

"The girl thing?" Her mom didn't look fazed at all as she said it while picking the little red peppers out of her chicken.

"Uh, yeah. I like guys, you know that, but I also might like girls? I mean, I haven't found any girls I've wanted to date, I mean there are some who are pretty and stuff, but, to be fair, I've only found two guys I've wanted to date, so I guess there's not that much to base it on." The nervousness was back, but less than it had been when she was waiting on the couch for her mother to get home.

"Alright, girls and boys, but no sex. Got it. Now, movie?" She was so nonchalant, it was like Rory asked for pizza for dinner or something as nonconsequential as that. It was weird and not at all like she thought it would go, not that she pictured it going poorly, but this well was almost _too_ well.

"And you're okay with that?" Rory felt like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but she asked anyway.

"Yep. Now, since you got food and junk, presumably to soften the blow, did you also pick out a movie?" Her mom was smiling, and maybe teasing a little, but it made Rory feel good about this, about coming out to her mom.

"Casablanca."

"Ah, the perfect movie to enjoy or to defuse a tough situation. My daughter, ladies and gentleman, the analyst." They were both laughing and she felt good. Why she was ever so worried, she didn't know, but now her mom knew and the world was right again.

"Thank you, thank you," She picked up her container of dumplings from the coffee table as if it was an award and then slumped against her mom until they both stopped laughing. "So, Casablanca?"

"Casablanca."


End file.
